How kinescopes of "You Bet Your Life" were saved from being destroyed

[BD Sullivan]

More info on the networks disposing old shows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiping

Interesting that Fred Silverman was in charge at each network when they finally stopped the "wiping" onslaught.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, one of the classic ending games of all time, was found a few months ago by Bing Crosby's estate. I understand that MLB Network ran some of it, but not all---it must be valuable enough not to be taped or DVR'ed.

Actually, it was found in late 2009 and shown a year later on MLB Network. The whole game exists and was presented in a three-hour block (with commentary from some of the players involved); you may be confusing that with Game 5 of the 1956 World Series ( i.e. Don Larsen's perfect game), which also was found a few years back and did have some missing content.

As far as why Crosby would contract to film and save that game? He was a minority owner of the Pirates for years.

 

[cd637299]

^ It was a case of time flying by! That long ago---wow.

I didn't know that the whole game aired. No I didn't confuse things---I was flat out wrong. I have seen on color film the final home run a few times, but not TV coverage.

I understand that Crosby was either on vacation or on business away from having a chance to see the game, so he had somebody film it in front of a TV---the only way to record TV at home back then. Oh well I could be wrong about that too.

cd

 

[MCarney]

Crosby was so nervous he went on vacation, arranging for the kinescope to be made. Crosby was an early investor in Ampex and always interested in the use of audio and video tape but I guess that videotape was too expensive and couldn't be played back at home.

 

[rnigma1]

CBN/the Family Channel ran "The Best of Groucho" in the '80s.

I seem to recall PBS running footage from the Peter Lind Hayes-Mary Healy show in the '70s, under some title similar to "When Television Was Great."

Many episodes of the '50s "Dragnet" TV series were lost because Jack Webb no longer wanted to pay for their storage. Apparently, the episodes that survive do so via syndication prints, and more episodes remain of the radio version.

 

[mysticnitekatt]

More info on the networks disposing old shows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiping

And Edie Adams's testimony to the Library of Congress on how Ernie Kovacs's shows were destroyed. In her testimony she says the shows were dumped into the Upper New York Bay instead of the East River, which a lot of articles claim: http://www.loc.gov/film/hrng96la.html

DuMont's successor Metromedia dumped everything they had!

 

[mysticnitekatt]

I had always heard that one day in 1973 John Guedel got a call
from an NBC employee, telling him that the Peacock Network was
destroying everything from the 1950s and '60s to make room in a
warehouse in New Jersey, and would he like a set of prints of "You
Bet Your Life" as a memento? Guedel asked him how many he had
destroyed; fifteen of 250 "Best Of Groucho" negatives, the man said.

But did Groucho get those missing 15 episodes, or did they still exist elsewhere?

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

CBN/the Family Channel ran "The Best of Groucho" in the '80s.

That same line-up included airings of Burns & Allen, Jack Benny Program, Wendy & Me, Love That Bob and Batchelor Father.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Many episodes of the '50s "Dragnet" TV series were lost because Jack Webb no longer wanted to pay for their storage. Apparently, the episodes that survive do so via syndication prints, and more episodes remain of the radio version.

I had heard that the combination of the episodes being in B & W and the many police actions seen on the show had since been ruled unconstitutional/illegal were the main reasons. In the mid-80's, a few years after Webb's death, I read an item saying that the 50's eps were still in the Universal vaults.

 

[BD Sullivan]

^ It was a case of time flying by! That long ago---wow.

I didn't know that the whole game aired. No I didn't confuse things---I was flat out wrong. I have seen on color film the final home run a few times, but not TV coverage.

I understand that Crosby was either on vacation or on business away from having a chance to see the game, so he had somebody film it in front of a TV---the only way to record TV at home back then. Oh well I could be wrong about that too.

cd

The news came out in October 2010 and, as mentioned, it was shown two months later. Bing's widow, Kathryn Crosby, was scheduled to be at the MLB Network event in Pittsburgh, but in early November, she and her husband were involved in a tragic car accident that killed him and seriously injured her. Bing's son, Nathaniel was there to represent the family.

 

[bpatrick]

I had always heard that one day in 1973 John Guedel got a call
from an NBC employee, telling him that the Peacock Network was
destroying everything from the 1950s and '60s to make room in a
warehouse in New Jersey, and would he like a set of prints of "You
Bet Your Life" as a memento? Guedel asked him how many he had
destroyed; fifteen of 250 "Best Of Groucho" negatives, the man said.

But did Groucho get those missing 15 episodes, or did they still exist elsewhere?

AFAIK, they no longer existed and NBC sent Guedel the other 235 episodes.
Also keep in mind that for some reason the first four television years (1950-54)
of "You Bet Your Life" were not in the syndication package; the "Best Of Groucho"
episodes you saw in the '70s and '80s were from 1954-61. That eliminated the
Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez appearance (although clips have been shown on Groucho
retrospectives) but preserved Phyllis Diller's. I think those first four years are now
in the public domain and are on DVD.

 

[oldtimeradio]

Re: Best of Groucho/You Bet Your Life.

The show was never live, even the radio show was recorded to disc before being edited down to the show for broadcast.

The reruns by local stations did run into some problems. Back in the day that stations ran bicycled 16mm films the stations would splice in their commercials to the episode being shown. On at least one occasion, I witnessed the show being rejoined after running the commercials. The interview with the contestants was joined in progress. After a few minutes, George Fenneman was standing at the microphone to introduce the same couple I had just been watching. The interview then resumed at the point it was "interrupted."

And then there would be those cue dots that stations punched into the prints. Some cue dots were upper right, or upper left, or lower left. (I don't remember seeing lower right represented.)

 

[bpatrick]

Ch. 5 in New York made an audio recording of a 1961 interview
with the Rev. James Whitcomb Brougher, past president of the
American Baptist Convention. Rev. Brougher was 90 years young
at the time and was married to a woman 20 years younger; when Groucho
asked him why he picked a woman that much younger he answered, "Because
I'd rather smell perfume than liniment," and brought the house down.

While that exchange was left in, something was taken out, because at one
point there's audience applause and it's not clear what the applause is about.
Part of the transcript of the interview is in Groucho's memoir "The Secret Word
Is Groucho," and it's clear that Ch. 5 has heavily edited the interview to work
in more commercials.

Another point you might notice when you watch "Best Of Groucho" is that
after the traditional opening, Groucho will say something like, "Well, here I am
again with a chance for each of our couples to win up to $10,000. And if any
of them say the secret word, this duck (which has come down and there's a closeup
of the secret word) will come down and pay them an extra $100. Here's the word
right here." (My favorite line after that is Groucho telling the duck to go back up
and lay an egg and drop it on Fenneman...and throw down some bacon.) Then
quick cut to commercial(s) before Fenneman introduces the first couple.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Here is an episode of You Bet Your Life from 1949 that was filmed to be the pilot for the TV version, and it also shows how the radio broadcast was done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__lg74jm3Zs Also, notice the microphones said CBS on them, so this was from when the show ran on CBS radio.

In the process of looking for the episode above I also found a group of 20 unedited radio episodes at Archive.org: http://archive.org/details/YouBetYourLifeunedited I haven't listened to any of these yet, so I don't know what to expect. Enjoy!